Lorenzo de Medici

Lorenzo "the Magnificent" de' Medici (1 January 1449-9 April 1492) was the Principe of the Republica Florentina from 1469 until his death.

Biography
Lorenzo the Magnificent was the son of Piero de Medici and Lucrezia Tornabuoni, and was the older brother of Giuliano de Medici. He was born to the wealthy House of Medici, who controlled banking in Florence. Lorenzo was a man who loved jousting, hunting, and hawking, and was loved by the people. When he was six years old he was saved by Giovanni Auditore da Firenze from drowning in the Arno River, starting a friendship between the Auditores and Medicis, and the Auditores helped the Medici family rise as a banking family. Although they gained an ally, they also made enemies with the House of Pazzi, who had been replaced as the central bankers of Florence.

Pazzi Conspiracy
In 1469 he became the leader of the House of Medici and shortly after was made the Principe of the Florentine Republic. The Pazzis sought to take over power from the Medicis, and in 1476 they started the Pazzi Conspiracy. They killed the Auditore Family and killed Giuliano de Medici in 1478, narrowly failing in killing Lorenzo. He was severely wounded, but that year the Medici guards counterattacked and Francesco de Pazzi was killed. Soon after Jacopo de Pazzi was killed by his Knights Templar masters, and the Medicis took over Florence and San Gimignano. Lorenzo honored the man responsible for thwarting the plot, Ezio Auditore da Firenze, by giving him a cape that showed that he was a friend of the House of Medici, and the guards would be lenient with him.

Later Years
Although he had thwarted the Pazzi Conspiracy, Lorenzo went into decline in his later years. He invited a monk named Girolamo Savonarola into the city, and he quickly began to run things. When Lorenzo died of natural causes in 1492, Savonarola became the new leader of the city and deposed the Medicis, and he turned Florence into living hell with the Bonfire of the Vanities.